Pickguard arrives from China ... turns out size matters

Friday, June 26, 2015 -- My new pickguard for my PBass clone arrived today from China. And sure as heck, I should have guessed that the pickguard wasn't the same size as the original one.

Oh, it was close, but the part of the pickguard that goes around the neck was about 1/2-inch shorter than the original one. The rest of it was pretty good, though only a couple of the original holes lined up.

The guard wouldn't fit the neck width without whittling, so I decided to simply move the new electronics to the old guard. That was easy. Getting the pickups set was not.

The pickups on the PBass don't attach to the pickguard like they do a strat; They mount to the body of the guitar with long screws. The pickups originally had foam blocks under them; however, the new pickups were taller, so they sat too high ... the strings would rattle them. So I used 3 layers of foam tape to create about half the original foam's thickness. We'll see how that plays. If I have to I can raise the action if the strings hit the pickups (or tear it apart and remove a layer of tape.

With the new pickguard installed, I put one of the old bass strings on it just to test the electronics. Wow, it sounded great -- however when I ran the pots over their range, I got some scratchiness --- from brand new pots! I'm not going to mess with the volume or tone on the bass, so it isn't really a big deal.

The new pickguard had some shielding tape covering the electronics; the original one did not, and I wish I had put some on.

Tomorrow I'll tighten the neck back up and put the new strings on and see how she plays. I haven't played a bass guitar in 25 years or so, and I've never played a full size one like this Bridgestone PBass clone.

The body has taken some hits and the finish is messed up on the bottom edge. I'm thinking of painting the body red like my old Musicmaster -- a solid red, rather than the translucent red that's on it now. The wood grain isn't that spectacular to show it off or anything.

But in the meantime, I'll try the bass out and see what she sounds like.

REFINISHING SUPPLIES. I don't know if I mentioned it, but my refinishing supplies arrived for my strat clone. A can of wood grain filler, a can of primer and a can of surf green lacquer. I'm going to use an automotive clear coat on it once its painted. I need to get that guitar out of the case and disassemble it and start on it. We'll see how it goes.

Rock on!